Holiday World Minority Owner To Appeal Court Ruling

The minority owner and former president of Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari is appealing a December court ruling that gave majority control of company stock to his sister-in-law.

Dan Koch is appealing the December ruling by Vanderburgh Circuit Court Judge Carl Heldt, claiming that Heldt should have ordered a stock sale, which would have allowed Dan to retain control of Holiday World.

Judge Heldt’s ruling excused Lori from having to sell back majority ownership due to what Heldt determined was misuse of the stock’s value by Dan Koch and Koch Development Corporation back in 2009, thus making Lori the majority owner of Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari.

Following the June 2010 death of former Holiday World president and majority owner Will Koch (Dan’s brother), Dan Koch and Lori Koch could not reach an agreement on a buyout price for the 60 percent ownership stake that she and Will Koch had.

A previous agreement between the brothers stipulated that the surviving brother had to buy out the remaining interest of the brother that had passed away.

Lori Koch sued Dan Koch and Koch Development Corporation (Holiday World’s parent company) in January of 2011, claiming that her husband Will’s majority ownership stock was worth $32 million dollars, which was about 5 million more than what Dan Koch and KDC had previously calculated. Per the brothers’ agreement, the calculation was to be made based on a formula accounting for the park’s value and earnings.

Koch is asking the appeals court to issue an order for Will Koch’s estate to sell its shares of stock and remand the case back to Vanderburgh Circuit Court to have a purchase price set and to give an order facilitating stock transfer.

The deadline for Lori Koch’s response to the appeal is April 16th. Koch Development Corporation has filed a motion of neutrality in the appeal.